Where Are the Original ‘Surreal Life’ Stars Now?
Just when it felt like the 2020s couldn’t get any more surreal, now we know VH1 is bringing back The Surreal Life, a celebrity spin on The Real World that aired six seasons between 2003 and 2006.
Among the VIPs moving in together for the VH1 revival are basketball star Dennis Rodman, reality TV personality Tamar Braxton, Malcolm in the Middle alum Frankie Muniz, and adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Now that the show is returning to our screens this fall, we’re checking in with some notable alums from The Surreal Life’s original run on The WB and VH1…
Gabrielle Carteris
Carteris riffed on her Beverly Hills, 90210 fame in 2019 when she and other stars of the ’90s teen drama played themselves in the Fox mockumentary BH90210. The actress has also been the president of SAG-AFTRA since 2016.
Vanilla Ice
Between 2010 and 2019, the “Ice Ice Baby” rapper hosted the DIY home improvement show The Vanilla Ice Project. He also played himself on screen in the 2017 film Sandy Wexler and in last year’s The Wrong Missy.
Dave Couilier
Like Carteris, Coulier banked on his ’90s television fame recently, reprising his Full House role of Joey Gladstone in the Netflix revival Fuller House. He also played himself in an episode of Dollface.
Flavor Flav
This Public Enemy rapper, whose Surreal Life gig spawned the VH1 reality spinoffs Strange Love and Flavor of Love, had a surprising TV role recently: From 2011 to 2019, he voiced Father Time on the Cartoon Network children’s TV show YooHoo & Friends.
Brigitte Nielsen
Nielsen, whose Surreal Life relationship with Flavor Flav continued into Strange Love, has kept up her acting career. She reprised her Rocky IV role of Ludmilla Vobet Drago in the 2018 film Creed II, and she starred in the 2019 movie The Experience.
Da Brat
Da Brat made headlines in 2020 when she revealed her relationship with Kaleidoscope Hair Products CEO Jesseca Dupart, a move that marked her coming-out. Also, the rapper has been a co-host of the talk show Dish Nation since 2015.
Christopher Knight
In June 2021, Knight returned to the role that made him a TV star, reprising the part of Peter Brady in the Paramount+ special Dragging the Classics: The Brady Bunch. He also honored The Brady Bunch in 2019 by being one of the celeb participants of the HGTV show A Very Brady Renovation.
Jose Canseco
This former MLB star has played with independent baseball leagues off an on over the past 15 years. More recently, Canseco has been posting bizarre missives on Twitter. In July 2021, for example, he wrote the aliens he spoke with “don’t even like [A-Rod]” in a strange slight against New York Yankees alum Alex Rodriguez.
Carey Hart
Hart was a motocross star when he appeared on The Surreal Life, but these days, he’s better known as the husband of pop star Pink. He appeared in his wife’s “All I Know So Far” music video in 2021, alongside their two children, Jameson and Willow.
Omarosa Manigault Newman
After becoming a household name as a contestant on The Apprentice’s first season, Manigault Newman reunited with Donald Trump in 2017 when she became a White House aide. She departed the job after less than a year, though, and in 2018, she released the memoir Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.
Steve Harwell
Harwell, who is still the lead singer of Smash Mouth, spurred controversy in 2020 when the alt-rock band played a packed concert at a South Dakota motorcycle rally amidst the pandemic. During that rally—which was later deemed a “superspreading event”—Harwell said, “F—k that COVID s—t.”
